by Brandie Long

Created on: May 12, 2008

House cleaning is one of those things that seems impossible to get the whole family involved. I am a full time student with three boys under the age of seven. Two years ago, I decided that I was not going to be the only one cleaning. We have household of five and there is no reason that only one person do all the cleaning. There was no time for me to do anything else. I am not one of those people who enjoys cleaning. I want a clean house, but I don't want cleaning to rule my life. I began to try different avenues to get my children involved with the house work. I knew that if it wasn't fun and enjoyable for them, it would never happen. My boys love a competition so I decided to feed off of that. Every evening we have contest on who can clean the fastest. The winner gets to have a small serving of dessert right before dinner. I get my boys circled up and say go. They absolutely love this activity. They get in a running position and wait for me say to go. They take off like they are getting ready to run a marathon. It is so cute! They run around; picking up toys, dirty cloths, books and my oldest has mastered the vacuum. My younger two love to sweep. Usually it is always a tie unless one of them decides they don't want to play. On Sundays, after church, we deep clean. I give each of my a wet rag and send them after counter tops, walls, furniture and whatever else they think needs a wipe down. While they are doing that, I get to mop and catch up on laundry. After dinner, my boys take turns on who gets to help with the dishwasher. This one I did not have to try on. They think it's the coolest machine in the house. With all this help, my husband has only one job; the trash! Sometimes he forgets and that is okay. I love to watch my boys clean and I enjoy the fact that they will understand the art when they are on their own. The house work gets done so much faster when you have a helping hand. Now, the basic cleaning gets done in less than 30 minutes. It is great. When house cleaning is made for fun for everyone, then it is no longer a chore but rather an activity. Not only are you getting help, and getting others involved, but you are assuring that your children are getting exercise. My boys are running around and sometimes break a sweat. It's just one more activity that helps them stay healthy. One of these days I will start getting them into doing laundry. For now, I like my stains coming out.

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